What a thrill for me personally to do this interview. I have been a long time fan of Texasbella ever since reading her story, To Serve Is Divine. So you can imagine my excitement bubbling over when it was announced that she had won not one but two categories in The Hidden Star Awards. Let's just say my inner stalker broke free from it's cage!

So without further ado, my chat with Texasbella...

What did it feel like to be nominated and to win an HSA award?

When I realized that two of my dearest stories were nominated it made me smile. I’ve been nominated for several things since I began writing, but have rarely won, so I took the nom’s as honors and was prepared to be happy with just those. When I logged on this morning and found that I had won in both categories, you could describe it as elation. I was literally bouncing in my seat and giddy. Especially for the Dear Reader win. That one was so different for me, yet it is truly my favorite piece that I have written so far, so I am most definitely humbled that it won an award.

Where did you come up with the story line for When In Romania and Dear Reader?

Would you believe if I said they both started with “instructions” from a reader? When In Romania began as a one shot that I donated to the Junkin’ for Joplin auction that was done to raise funds for the victims of the Joplin,MO tornado. The highest bidder was penquincullen (in fact, she won three authors). When I contacted her to ask what she wanted me to write, she left it specific, but vague. All three of us were tasked with creating a one shot that 1. had Edward as the main POV 2. Bella HAD to have a backbone and 3. it had to be a vampire story. What we chose to do with those parameters was up to us. At first I had no idea what I was going to do as I had only dabbled with writing vampires in my one shot, Alternative Therapy, but even that did not have a lot. So...I started racking my brain and thought it would be fun to do a hitchhiker (Bella) traveling through Rome and runs into trouble and Edward (the vamp) swoops in and saves her. Problem with that...it was TOO similar to the original story. Also, when I searched titles, When In Rome, which is what I was going to title it, there were way too many stories that already had that. Now here is where I have to be honest...I got cheeky because I was frustrated as nothing else was coming to mind and said “fine, she wants a vamp story, then I’m going to the source...Romania.” Needless to say, the ideas started flowing as I started typing and before I knew it, the one shot had become an 18 chapter short story. I ended up donating the epilogue of the story to the Toys For Tots compilation this past December...so the story, start to finish, was a charity piece. I’d like to add that HeartOfDarkess was one of the additional authors given these parameters and like me, her one shot grew...and is still being written. I happen to be the beta on it and it’s...amazing. She had the foresight to answer the question of why Jack the Ripper was never caught...because he was a vampire named Edward, or as he’s been lovingly dubbed, Ripperward.

Now for Dear Reader, I occasionally write “birthday one shots” for special people. Reyes139 is one of those. She was one of my very first loyal reviewers when I first came on the scene with To Serve Is Divine. Now saying that, she was not a “blow smoke up my ass” kind of reviewer...oh no...she yelled and cussed me several times for how I initially presented Edward, but slowly she grew to love him. I appreciated her honesty and enjoyed replying and getting to know her. Eventually I took her on as one of my first pre-readers...and now, over a year later she has ventured into the author side of the fandom and I am her beta as well as her “facebook mom,” she’s my baby girl! Her birthday is at the end of November and I asked her in October what she would like me to write for her. I think she was even more “vague” with me, saying she wanted a dark domineering Vampward and a HEA with a spooky feel to it if possible. And with her, it goes without saying that that HEA better include Bella where Edward is concerned...she wouldn’t have it any other way! My first thought...dear gawd...why do they keep asking me to do vamps? Then I tried focusing on the spooky...and with Halloween around the corner, though vampires, witches, ghosts...oh my! And away I went. I think I’d written about 400 words of it when the idea of making it a journal entry came to me and I had to back track to tweak what I’d written and then move forward again. By the time I got to the end of it, I’d made myself cry...and I’ve never done that. I emailed it to her to allow her to enjoy it first prior to posting and she called me within an hour...in tears and speechless. I knew I’d hit a home run. I love the message that I convey in this one and the hidden mystery within the one shot...that by the time you get to the end, you realize the clues were there from the beginning. I started it with a Halloween feel, but it would certainly apply to a Valentine’s Day tone as well since ultimately, it is a love story.

Your story lines are very detailed. Is it already outlined or are you just writing as you go?

Well thank you for the kind words darlin’. *blushes* I’ve had fellow authors ask about outlines and my standard answer is: “What’s an outline?” Horrible, I know. But I don’t use them. I get an idea, I think on it and envision a few key scenes I’d like to see happen within the story and then I write as I go. Readers will ask, “About how many chapters do you think this will be?” and I can never answer that as I honestly never know. Sometimes I start a chapter thinking such and such is going to happen and the characters take over and do something completely different. I also don’t write to fulfill a word count which means some chapters are shorter than others...I just write until the chapter feels done and the characters stop talking.

You are also writing multiple stories, and so different from one another, how in the world do you keep your characters all straight on their paths??

My only active WIP, at the moment, is Boys and Their Toys. This started off as a story I was just betaing for True English Rose, but by the time she’d sent me the fifth or sixth chapter, I’d added so many ideas to it that she demanded I take co-author credit on it. It took a bit of coercion on her part, but I finally agreed and we started posting it. It’s being quite well received...and we are having a blast writing it. It’s an Edward/Jasper slash and revolves around Edward’s sex toy store, The Lion’s Den. I’m sure you can see the potential for all the fun we are having! Uninhibited Wallflower I had to unfortunately put on hiatus last fall. I wasn’t giving it the attention it needed and was worried about getting off that “path” that you referred to. So, I set it aside in my mind to allow me to focus on all the charity compilations I had signed up for (the toys for tots, f4heroes, f4juvenile diabetes, f4 A Flight for Bobby and f4children). You think I’ve been diverse up to this point...just wait until you see what I’ve been cooking up for these one shots! Banners, summaries and teasers can all be found on my blog on the Charitable Causes page. But I guess I haven’t really answered your question, have I? *giggles* I think maybe I have a compartmentalized brain? It has finally reached the point that as a new plot bunny is born in the bunny hutch, I open a word doc, type down my initial ideas and let it wait for me until I can get to it...at least that way, I don’t forget it. Should I admit that I’ve already had a banner made for a story that I haven’t written a single word on? When I can get to it, I think Hidden Desires is going to be epic...though definitely NOT everyone’s cup of tea. Anyone that follows me, however, knows to expect the unexpected because I’m not afraid of any pairing and am hard pressed to find anything that would be too taboo for me to write.

Who do you bounce your ideas off of?

I have an AMAZING team of pre-readers and good friends. They haven’t ALL worked on every piece of mine, but in some combination, they are the ones that keep back from the ledge and tell me when to keep going and when to stop. These girls have even stepped out of their comfort zones to read/listen to some of my stuff...and have ended up liking it. *tents fingers and smiles evilly* It’s so much fun to bring people over to the dark side. But seriously, a huge shout out and thank you goes to Nicole, Sammy, Holly, Cheryl, Massy, Arc, Tammy, Lisa, Victoria, Michaela, Judy, and JoAnn. Extra thanks go to Holly, Lisa and now Mid Night Cougar for stepping in to beta for me when I need it.

You have made a tremendous effort in the character details, especially Edward in Dear Reader, he's a great Vampward, how did he evolve for you?

You’d have to ask a hard one wouldn’t ya darlin’? I can’t really say, other than what I explained above as to how the idea for DR came about. He needed to be broody and bossy and while I try not to write the original Twilight story, I am a sucker for throwing in familiar one liners or attitudes that make it fanfiction. So...he was a 100 year old virgin that was tired of his families extra curricular activities around him. I added the twist of he had to get laid by his 100th vamp year or join the Volturi...which by the way, was a first...and probably a last. I don’t care about the Volturi and usually don’t write them in...they fit the story in this case. Other than that, all I can say is that I “see” them and their actions in my head and I just try my best to convert what I’m seeing into words.

Any plans to continue Dear Reader? *wink wink*

LOL...way to be subtle there! I’m sorry, but no. Dear Reader is a one shot that I feel truly does stand on it’s own. They have their HEA at the end and there really is no more story to be told.

And one last one, I love my Vampward a little dark and naughty, what is your perfect Vampward? Well, this is an easy one. Hands down, it would have to be Purrward from Robs Handmonkey’s Shhhhh...come on...what’s hotter than a sexy vampire that is also a Dominant...and for crying out loud...he purrs when in a state of ecstasy people!!! Does it get sexier? Well, maybe Ripperward could give Purrward a run for his money.

Can I add one more thing? I would really appreciate people taking the time to check out my blog. It has recently been overhauled by the fabulous JA Mash and now has not only FF links to all of my projects, but also links for PDF downloads of all finished projects. There is a page for any charities I am currently participating in and last, but certainly not least, I have a special page for those authors that I beta for. Banners and links to their stories are included there and are very worthy of the fandom’s love.

Finally, I have to throw in a deep, heartfelt thank you to those that nominated me and voted for me. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again...the authors are nothing without the readers...and my readers are THE BEST! I love all ya’ll darlin’s!!!